Svatopluk II

Svatopluk[1] II (died ca. 906) ruled the Principality of Nitra from 894 to 906 and strove to control all of Great Moravia.

Svatopluk II was a younger son of Svatopluk I. As Prince of Nitra, Svatopluk II was subordinated to his older brother Mojmír II, the King of Great Moravia which contained the principality as its province. Svatopluk II rebelled against his brother in 898 in an attempt to take over control of Great Moravia. Their conflict climaxed when Bavarian troops intervened in the winter of 898/899. Mojmír II defeated the Bavarians and captured Svatopluk II, but the Bavarians managed to rescue him and brought him to East Francia. Svatopluk II returned to the Principality of Nitra in 901. He probably died in 906 in fights with the Ugric tribes, ancestors of the modern Hungarians, who began to invade the Carpathian Basin in 896. Historical records contain no mention of Mojmír II, Svatopluk II, or their possible successors in connection with the three battles of Bratislava where the invading tribes defeated the Bavarian army.

Notes

  1. ^ Svatopluk is the Czech spelling, the Slovak spelling is Svätopluk, the name was spelled Свѧтопълкъ in Old Slavonic documents, the pronunciation of his name during his lifetime could be approximated as [swentopəlkə]. English sources sometimes give his name as it was spelled in Frankish Latin documents: Suentopolcus, Suatopluk, Zventopluk, Zwentibald, Zwentibold, Zuentibold, or Zuentibald.